I. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to communication, and more specifically to techniques for searching for cells in a wireless communication system.
II. Background
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, etc. These wireless systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting multiple users by sharing the available system resources. Examples of such multiple-access systems include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems, Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) systems, and Single-Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) systems.
A wireless communication system may include any number of base stations that can support communication for any number of user equipments (UEs). A UE (e.g., a cellular phone) may be within the coverage of zero, one, or multiple base stations at any given moment. The UE may have just been powered on or may have lost coverage and thus may not know which base stations can be received. The UE may perform cell search to detect for base stations and to acquire timing and other information for the detected base stations. The UE may also be in communication with one or more base stations and may be mobile. The UE may perform cell search to detect for better base stations to serve the UE.
Each base station may transmit synchronization signals to assist the UEs perform cell search. In general, a synchronization signal may be any signal that allows a receiver to detect for a transmitter and to obtain information, e.g., timing and identity, of the transmitter. The synchronization signals represent overhead and should be transmitted as efficiently as possible. Furthermore, the synchronization signals should allow the UEs to perform cell search as quickly and efficiently as possible.